Resonance Persona
by Encendrel
Summary: Ragna has been betrayed. His home is gone, sister kidnapped and brother totally insane. There is a shift in which a certain vampire was supposed to save him, but it didn't happen. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's doomed. Some mild language, and implied themes. This is just my interpretation. It's been stuck in the closet for a while. Alternate Timeline. Enjoy, or don't enjoy.
1. Secondary Being

**This is a very old idea of mine for Blazblue. What it's about should be mentioned in the summary. **

**I don't own BlazBlue or any thing it owns. If I did, I'd be writing a bunch of these annoying, cheesy, malicious "If I owned BlazBlue" quotes to tick people off.**

* * *

**2192, Old Orphanage**

Ragna was laying in a burnt church, crying pathetically. _Why? _He simply asked himself, melancholy overtaking him. The splintered remains of the old residence seemed to creak and shudder with his breaths, rain falling in perfect symphony with his tears. That day, he had felt loss unlike any other. The old hag was dead, sister kidnapped, and his brother... _his brother..._ Ragna had no idea what to do.

"Gahhh!" He screamed, crying out with a mixture of pain, sorrow, and betrayal. He reached towards the sky with his left hand- his right hand was cut off, courtesy of the _bastard- _and closed his eyes, waiting for the end. He didn't feel like fighting anymore. Somehow, he just _knew_ that resisting fate would end badly for him.

"_Hmm, I though you were better than that._" A voice called, and his eyes shot open. A girl, seeming to be his age and height, was standing over curiously. The girl had smooth black hair that fell to the wrists (if arms hung down), pale skin and red eyes with gray pupils. She was wearing all black, from sneakers to dress to gloves to hair clip. She was smirking, but not in an arrogant way, but more in the _miserable yet humorous_ way.

"Who- who are you?" Ragna said weakly, almost having to cough out the "you". He tried to turn his head, but it was to no avail. His neck was stuck in place, and he feared that forcing it to the side would end only in pain.

"Hehe, how to I put this." The girl chuckled, in a light tone. She put her index finder to her chin, but suddenly brought it down. "Ah, yes. _I am you._" Ragna started to choke on air, but it hurt _a lot_, so he made a valiant effort to stop.

"Y-you can't be serious." He said, eyes widened. Even if he was in too much pain to think properly, last he checked, _he was not a girl_. That is, unless the old hag lied to him about it, but that was doubtful.

"Well, I'm very serious." She started, holding out her hand, stretching her fingers out. "I'm your alternate personality, inner being, the Black Beast, as well as other things. But, I guess Spectra will do." She pointed to each of her fingers for everything she listed. _The last one is a bit peculiar, really. The black be- THE BLACK BEAST?_

"I'm sure I'm not the Black beast. Are you sure you don't have the wrong person?" Ragna asked nervously, not really wanting to hear the answer. "I don't emit a black aura or devour the earth with snake heads, either..."

The girl sighed, before muttering. "And they wonder why you die in every timeline..." She put her hand to her forehead, thinking. "Look, man, it's the honest truth. Do you want to live or die? It's up to you." She said, suddenly jumping topics. She didn't want to waste forever talking about how _Ragna wasn't the Black Beast_. If they spent forever dwelling on it, she would return to normal after the timeline reset. She was betting her new found humanity on this.

"Of course I want to live! But how can you make that happen?" Ragna asked bluntly, and tried to stand. He failed miserably, he was starting to become asphyxiated too. It seemed hard to breath in the lifeless air surrounding them.

"Hmm... like this." She narrowed her eyes, and glowed cyan for a second. Ragna waved his right arm, before realizing it was his right arm. It looked perfectly normal, as if it hadn't been sliced off brutally. "Happy?"

"H-how... how did you do that?" He asked almost accusingly. Ragna/The Black Beast/Random Girl A shrugged.

"I don't know. I've always been able to do this, ever since I gained consciousness. I'm not sure why, but I know you can do it too, probably." She looked at him determinedly. "So, are you coming or not?"

"I-I guess so..."

* * *

"Well, this is new." A certain vampire said, trying to look at the place that started it all. However, when she looked at the area, it was just a _pure darkness_ for a mile around. That meant one of two things. Either the Izayoi was in the area for no apparent reason, or whatever was in that area was impossible to observe.

Attempting to extend her vision past the barrier, she found that not just one, but _two_ people were in the barrier, talking. And that wasn't the strangest part, either.

Both of the people were truly the same person.

* * *

**2193, Kagutsuchi Hotel**

The past year had been pure torture for Ragna. He had started to train in the art of magic, in its pure form, instructed by none other than... _himself._ He once read that talking to oneself was a sign of insanity. Did that mean he had been going insane for the past 3 or 4 years? And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Training.

He hated the activity with all his heart. He often found himself trapped inside a blackening pit, in which his goal was to somehow get out. The activity in itself was impossible, unless he used magic. He was incapable of moving at all for the first month. At the very least, Spectra could cook. He had been learning slowly, but he figured that if he _(she)_ could cook, he could cook.

The first sign of capability was 6 weeks in. Ragna had kept close count of the dates, making a mental calendar. He felt as if everything would slip away and disappear again if he didn't. 6 weeks in, he had somehow made a web of _something_ in order to break out. He asked the girl, once, and she had just said, _nature's primary power in visible form._ Ragna didn't figure out what she meant for quite a while, but he was understanding the concept slowly._  
_

Then, there was traveling.

Every few weeks, the Spectra just called, "Pack your bags!" and they left. They walked for miles on end, to places that no one could possibly exist in. Well, at the very least, Ragna learned new things. They had once traveled to a place that was once called Geneva ("_Hey, I never touched it!_" she said), and found a lab that researched something like, _the relation between general relativity and quantum physics._ It seemed, these places of information were one of the few places Spectra wasn't mostly apathetic about. Ragna found himself much smarter than most people in the generation. Right now, they were in Kagutsuchi, in a hotel. Ragna could never figure out _how exactly_ Spectra got the money to pay for it, but he wasn't about to ask.

"Say, Ragna," Spectra called, from the doorway. Ragna was lying on the bed, reminiscing, but it was always a great wake up call to see the demoness (literally!) around. "How old are you?" It was sort of a strange question. Ragna always thought they were twins, for some reason.

"Shouldn't you know? I mean, you **are **me, after all." He said, stressing the 'are'.

"Not really, I only gained consciousness and existence like, 4 months before I met you." She shrugged. "So, how old are you?"

"Well, I'm 15, if you really need to know. Why?" The girl grinned wildly.

"How would YOU like to go to the NOL Academy?"

* * *

**I swear, all the prologues for every story I've ever written (and not on fanfiction, necessarily) are less than 2000 words. The chapters get longer, I promise.**

**Enjoy, or don't enjoy it. Up to you.**


	2. Academy Scramble- First Day

**Here is the second chapter of Resonance Persona!**

**-Changed the tag, because now the prologue isn't the ONLY chapter in the story XD**

**Well, actually it's the third chapter, but the second chapter isn't written, because it's infested with OCs (since Jin is the closest person to Ragna's age that participated in the NOL academy, meaning there would be at least 2 years before Ragna could meet anyone else from the cast)that would just disappear in 2 chapters. If you want to see it, PM me and I might figure it out.**

**Honestly, adding many OCs is really distasteful to me... Spectra is a different case in my opinion, since it's a spin on the "Black Beast with a consciousness" idea. Nothing really big happens in between, but here's a summary.**

**-Ragna is accepted into the Academy, with very high scores in his entrance exams.**

**-Ragna becomes the NOL Military Academy's President.**

**-Spectra disappears because a certain flaw... There are chapter 2 excerpts at the end.**

* * *

**Time Skip (2 years after enrollment)**

"So, I'd like to start off this year by saying that last year was _pretty damn good._ In case you don't know yet, I am Ragna, the current Student Body President. I'd like to keep up the record, so don't screw it up with a load of crap." Ragna said over a microphone in a gruff voice. Despite his obvious lack of tact, cheers resounded from every corner of the room. Random people confessed their love and blew hearts at him. Ragna was the Student Body President, and he made decisions to uphold the school. Many would say he was pretty good at it. Ragna was also known for being the only one to ace the Ars compatibility test, which seemed to give him major authority. "After this assembly, head over to the student council office to get your papers. It's going to be a bloody free-for-all, since the rules state I need new members, and I can;t deal with all" He made a gesture towards a door behind him. He himself was standing behind a podium, in a standard academy uniform as well as a stack of papers. He didn't seem to be looking at the papers when he spoke, but his pencil seemed to aimlessly trace on it.

"There will be some basic rules around here." He started, finally looking at the sheets. His almost shining green eyes skimmed over the lines quickly. The students were silenced by this gesture. He put his hand through his spiky blonde hair to smooth it down, but unsurprisingly, it didn't work. "One: Absents are non-tolerable. I don't actually give a shit what you do in the meantime, as long as you get to your designated areas on time." He collected the papers and dropped them down to make them all even.

"Rule two: Don't fuck with the equipment. That refers to you, you and..." He said pointing to random areas in the crowd. He suddenly opened his palms. "All of you. There are NO DAMN EXCUSES." Ragna stressed this important point, because in his first year as Student Body President, it was some sort of challenge to see who could mess with the machines the best. He found himself with a crap ton of complaints about money costs from the Duodecim.

"The last, and most important rule: Don't kill each other. I don't mind fighting, after all this is a _military school_, but it takes time to write a coffin phrase and dig a hole, you know." This seemed to make the new students somewhat nervous, even they were just given a major freedom, _to fight_. The older students were talking among themselves, as if hearing a particularly funny inside joke.

"All your rooming information and schedules are already in the database, so make sure you actually READ the forms."

"This is my second to last year as a student, so I'd like to see some actual progress! Well, have a good time because we're all going to be sent to hell after this!" He shouted from the microphone, and everyone cheered loudly.

"Wooow... The Student president is so hot!" A certain squirrel beastkin said among the cheers, with shining eyes.

"Miss Nanaya, calm down. You'll get to meet him... eventually, I'm sure." A redhead called, behind her. They met when they were entering the school grounds, and Makoto Nanaya was lost, so she decided to follow the girl into the assembly room.

"U-um... Aren't we supposed to get the, um, the papers?" A blonde haired girl said behind them, stuttering.

"Well, do you want to try to get past that river of people over there?" The beastkin remarked harshly, pointing at the crowd. The blonde, Noel Vermilion saw Ragna walking out the door to the side. He seemed... _familiar_ for a moment, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

* * *

"Heh, personal suite? I always file for the boarding rooms, but they give this to me anyways..." Ragna surveyed the VERY large room with a critical eye. It had two beds (he never got that. Why the hell was it a personal suite if there were _two_ beds?) a couch, and a fridge. There was an empty space in the corner directly right to the door. He liked the boarding rooms because they were easy to clean and pack, like a hotel room. This might have been because he traveled for so long, he was prepared to leave at any time he wanted. "Well, at least there's one benefit, I guess. Localizing Magic Array... Check. Set dimensions... Check. Expanding energy fields... Check. Code 034... Personal Structure Alternator." A blood red circle appeared in the empty corner, seeming to pulsate through the room and echo, like a bat's sound waves, before turning green. It stuck to the ground, and dulled. This specific magic was one that required minimal energy, and he could rearrange everything as he wanted. Actually, if one sent enough energy into the spell, they would be able to make the room "bigger on the inside". But that got really creepy after a while. With his room set up, he turned to his last opening day task. He had all his forms in, which left only one thing.

_Recruiting..._ Everyone in the previous student council hated the term with a burning passion by now. They called it recruiting, but it was really just people saying, "I want to make a group that does this 'cuz it sounds cool". But, it was a general rule they had to listen to these requests. Right now, Ragna needed to recruit new members, as the other members had to quit after a year, meaning he was the only one left to listen to the only groups that lasted longer than 3 months were the "Enforcement Group", who were really just a bunch of killjoys, and the "Field Administration", which was _surprisingly_ effective, assigning proper times to use the Open field and maintenance. Let's now observe some prime examples of group requests.

_**The following montage does NOT express canon. Nothing that happens here affects the actual story. Thank**_** you.**

* * *

"...Hallway patrol?" Ragna questioned with twitching eyes. He was making X marks on his rating sheet faster than the Boundary corrupted humans.

"Well, yes. What if people slipped on carelessly tossed banana peels in the ha-"

"NEXT!"

* * *

"And that is why I think we need an Aviator's group." Some random brat with a bratty voice and bratty clothes said, folding his hands in.

"It seems you've forgotten some major things." Ragna raised one of his arms in resignation.

"And what would that be..?"

"WE DON'T OWN ANY AIRPLANES, SHEBALVES, OR ANYTHING ELSE FOR THAT MATTER!" He slammed his "FAIL" stamp on the kid's forehead, _which may have been a little harsh,_ and made the boy burst into tears.

"NEXT!"

* * *

"The Magic Conch Shell Club!"

"Er... what the fuck is that?"

"Well. it-"6

"I changed my mind, I don't want to hear it... NEXT!"

* * *

"The We love Nii-San club!"

"J-JIN!" Ragna suddenly whipped up both of his hands, but before he destroyed something, Jin grabbed his hands in a _totally_-not-homo manner and set them down.

He was blown out of the room by a well placed jump kick on Ragna's part.

* * *

Ragna let out a sigh, head in his arms. "I'm... so tired..." He moaned, trying to sit up. His brain lacked the willpower to do so, and he slammed his head back down into his arms. His peace didn't last long, though, as a girl burst into the room.

"I-I'm late! Do you still have the forms?" When Ragna lifted his head, he was shocked. "Noo... The shets are probably all gone and I-I'll be expelled!" The girl was closed to tears.

"S-Saya!?" He suddenly exclaimed, but the girl tilted her head with curiosity. "No, never mind..." He opened a cabinet. Indeed, there was only one file left. "Noel Vermilion, is it? Next time, if you're told to get the papers, you should probably _get__ the papers._ He handed the file over to the girl who bowed wholeheartedly.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Noel scampered out of the room, and Ragna stood.

"Ahh, finally done!" The sun was setting, and all the forms were taken. He _hoped_ they would get turned in, and he organized the desk. And with that, Opening Day was over.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Academy Scramble complete! This was just sort of a beginning to Ragna participating as a leader of the Military Academy. He isn't being trained by heroes, so he isn't so... heroic. Heh. He hasn't forgotten about Saya, but he has a very neutral standpoint on Good and Evil. A little rushed, I guess... But it's all good. Here are some major excerpts of Chapter 2.**

* * *

**Excerpts from Chapter 2**

_The pair made their way into the city, going past crowds nonchalantly. The girl chattered, making sure Ragna was prepared. "Actually, you aren't supposed to enroll in the academy until you're 16, but they make special cases if you have particularly high Ars Compatibility. If you can master magic, Ars is the next step down, so don't worry."_

_..._

_**Ouch... **The girl said to herself, internally. The seithr was thinning out, and so was that machine. It was as if her artificial soul was being eaten out from the inside. "Hey, Ragna... I can't go any farther into the city. If there's not enough seithr, something bad might happen..." Indeed, she needed the seithr for a certain process, that maintained her "personality..." Mindless destruction seemed to envelop her, and her knees buckled. The boy looked at her in concern. She then, suddenly disappeared._

_..._

_In a futile attempt to defeat Nu-13 before they fell into the demonic cauldron, he summoned the Power of Azure one last time, reaching towards her face... and ripping out her eye, along with the eye patch that was her half of the Azure Grimoire. The world shifted to black for one second. SYSTEM_MALFUNCTION- CODE4_SHIFT_IRREGULAR- FUSION_IMMINENT. Three ambiguous voices called out in the black. The pair fell to their deaths, burning in the soul fire. _

_Spectra rose out of the cauldron. There as a roar from inside, and the beast and the girl were sent back._

_She viewed history as if through a window. Multiple times, the same people died, same people destroyed the world. She was unable to form, due to a lack of the ability to form an "identity." A power seemed to appear in the darkness that was everywhere not the window. She reached for it..._

_..._

_"My name is Ragna, and I'm running for Student Body President. I sort of decided this on a whim, but it's better than thinking everything through and fucking it up, so, uh... VOTE FOR ME!" Cheers rose from the stage._

_..._

_"What an interesting development." A certain vampire princess said, sitting on her throne. The black field had suddenly let up, and she found Ragna in the NOL military Academy. "There's really nothing to do here, is there."_

* * *

**Those were my Chapter 2 excerpts. They explain what you missed, because I don't want to write an OC-infested chapter. Logic dictates that there would HAVE to be at least 2 years before Ragna meets anyone else from the cast.**

* * *

**Omake! This omake, as well as almost all Omakes I've written before, is a rejected idea. Maybe I'll continue it in another story... Maybe.**

Jin screamed in agony. The spirit of malice was attempting to possess him, and was doing a fairly good job of it. The spirit, _Terumi_, it called itself, was sending pain into Jin's body as if he was in an electric chair. Jin was outside of the Kisaragi house, and no one was within miles of him. "Why... Why are you doing this?" He grunted, falling to his knees.

"_Why not? I can kill more people like this! KehyahahahahA (I really don't know)!_" The being cackled, and sent even more shocks into Jin. Jin, being only 13 at the time, couldn't take it, pulling out his sword and stabbing himself randomly to _end the pain._ He really had no idea _why_ he did this, but it seemed to work, and his consciousness grew hazy. For a while, he lost awareness of everything.

"Hmm, Jubei, what do you think?" He heard quiet voices muttering, but he could barely pay attention.

"Rachel, I don't know, do you really think it's a good idea to give him the Azure Grimoire?"

"Everything is broken already. The wheel of fate won't start turning until we do _something_. Ragna is out of the question, his role has changed." The female voice said back.

Jin reached forward in one last move, but lost consciousness. When he would wake up, he would find his heart replaced by something darker than black, absorbing good and evil indifferently.

* * *

**Ragna is just a teensy bit OOC, but I think I got the main thing down.**

**Now you know. In a timeline in which Ragna makes one final decision, to rip out Nu-13's Azure Grimoire, Takamagahara observes a system malfunction, and Spectra forms. Also, Spectra's soul is artificial, and runs on seithr. It'll be explained... soon.****  
**

**If you want to write Chapter Two for me, by all means, do so. _  
_**

**Just kidding.**

**Leave a review and tell me what you think.**

**Okay, the event line is a _little_ jittery, but whatever.**

**Next Chapter: Ragna and Jin: Twisted Family Reunion**

_I am the black void. I am the burning edge. I am the false chains. With power in hand I shall create the truth of this world and shoot it into the darkness of existence. I am Encendrel. The beginning has arrived!_

_Gotta love Hakumen, and this is my spin on his speech._


	3. Natural Aversion

**Chapter 3 (4) of Resonance Persona!  
I'm deciding between going slow-paced on the NOL Academy or just rushing it through (like, another time-skip). Eh. I'm writing this so soon after the last update because I watched the first 4 episodes of Blazblue: Alter Memory, and it made me feel AWESOME. Well, lets get on with it.**

**-Also, I realize how badly I managed to botch the timeline. I'm sorry. Here you go, if you're confused.**

**2192- Ragna's orphanage blows up, courtesy of snake dude. Found by his counterpart, Spectra. Starts to train.  
2193- Ragna trains in the arts of magic and other things.  
****2194- Ragna enrolls in the NOL Military Academy, acing the Ars Aptitude test.  
2195- Jin gets home schooled because he has hypothermia for no reason at all (I claim Artistic License). Ragna becomes Student President.  
2196- Noel Vermilion, Tsubaki Yayoi, and Makoto Nanaya enroll. Jin enters the Academy as a second year, no questions asked.**

**Anyone have a good link to read to BlazBlue LN?**

**Since this is Ragna's Military Academy Adventure part 3 (Never gonna write chapter 2 lol) of 5(there's so much I want to squish in here, but i'm honestly bad at writing XD) I set up a poll in my profile so you could vote for his branch. Please note that I'd rather not have Ragna in the Praetorian Guard, but if it wins in a huge difference (5 more votes than everything else) I will do it. I put up my vote, to get it started.**

**Yeah, my Author's notes do tend to be long. Sorry about that.**

**I don't own BlazBlue or anything it owns. Heh.**

* * *

Ragna quickly decided he was never going to catch a break. He was at his first class, which was simple Ars theory, but that wasn't the important part. There was someone who obviously didn't want him here.

Well, he had figured that out by the fact there was a katana at his neck. A _sheathed _one, but a katana no less. "Well... Hello, err... who are you and what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Many people were staring, but Ragna was more concerned with staying alive than dealing with a crowd.

"Don't play games with me. You know who I am. You're supposed to be dead." Ragna looked up, and saw someone with blonde hair and green eyes just like his, except better maintained. They stared at him with an accusatory look that was completely unreasonable. Ragna, of course, knew that this was Jin, but he was going for no fights on his first day (it never worked, but still). He muttered quiet words under his breath, unheard in all the commotion.

"**Command control: 4. Hierarchic tier system connected. Biomass_over_****Yukia**- agh!" Ragna was suddenly cut off by a freezing sensation in his lungs. "What... What the hell?" Ragna was still mumbling quietly. The ice sword was emitting frost that seemed to chase him down It was like a warning siren that pierced his mind directly. When he looked back at Jin, it seemed Jin was struggling to keep control of the Nox. _So those are the weapons made to destroy the Black Beast, huh?_ Ragna had only seen one in his life, and it was the one staring him in the face right now.

"Grr... Why won't it listen?" Jin grabbed his sword with both hands and tried to force it to the ground, but was failing. Ragna realized he only had one option that wouldn't end in anything destroyed.

He tripped Jin, who dropped the sword and blue and white uniform seemed to randomly collect dust as he recovered. Ragna quickly sat down, and class started.

...

"So, who can tell me what a Grimoire is?" Ragna closed his eyes and kept quiet. The Nox Nyctores resonated around the room, though hidden, it was like a klaxon siren to Ragna. It was impossible for him to concentrate, making him increasingly irritated as class went by. He gritted his teeth, under what felt like self-inflicted torture. A migraine pulsed with his heartbeat, and he laid his head down.

He waited.

"Class President?" Some random kid shook his shoulder. The warbling died down, and Ragna let out a long sigh. He opened his eyes. "Class is over." It was a short blonde kid who looked like he should only be in middle school, with books in hand, and a blue-eyed curious gaze staring at him. He knew who this kid was, because he had read all the files on special selections to the academy (**I realize I'm sort of stretching this. Sorry!)**.

"Carl... Clover, is it? Thanks." The kid nodded, and Ragna made his way to lunch.

* * *

The problem with lunch was the fact that it was so hard to actually _obtain_ food. it was like a wall of students blocking his way to a tiny table with all the food on it. Given, the cafeteria was lacking staff at the moment (It was one of the things Ragna hated, that the cafeteria staff was composed of students), and the food was prepackaged rations, but it was still _insane_ attempting to get over to the serving table. Shrugging, he decided to go into the kitchen instead.

One of the things Ragna liked to do was sneak into the kitchen instead of the cafeteria to grab a few bites before they came out. Another hobby of his was cooking. He was actually very good at it, and it gave him time to think. _The Nox Nyctores..._ His alternate personality would probably have a much better idea of what to do now. However, she disappeared sometime after they reached the 3rd level. The Nox seemed to set off every danger signal in his body, from his nervous system to his immune system. He grabbed some cuts of meat. Chopping them, he went over his theoretics in his head. _The essence of magic is a command that draws upon one's will and energy. The energy is a less important part, compared to using the will to bend reality._ He threw the meat onto the pan, throwing spices on by instinct. _Ars Magus on the other hand, uses energy, placing it into an "input code" that requires no will._ He grabbed the pan and walked over to a plate, but was suddenly bumped into. The pan went flying on the air.

"What the fuck was that!?" He turned around to see a squirrel beastkin in an NOL academy uniform on the ground. He saw his steaks flying in the air, and he suddenly caught them with his plate. He couldn't help but grin. _Ninja reflexes... Works every time_... He continued to humor himself, until the still hot pan dropped on the person's head.

"Ouch ouch ouch ouch... Where am I..?" The girl moaned, rubbing her head down. She looked up, seeing the Class President staring at her quizzically. She suddenly scampered around blindly. "EH?!"

"Well, You'd be in the kitchen, seeing as a fucking pan just fell on your head." Ragna held up his dish with steaks on it. He placed one on another dish and beckoned her to sit down at the table.

"So, what's your name?" Ragna questioned while taking bites of his food. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the _sensation,_ which definitely must have looked weird.

"M-Makoto. Makoto Nanaya." The girl stuttered, unsure of what she would do. Given, the pressure Ragna held at all times could make anyone falter.

"And what were you doing in the kitchen? The students not on cafeteria duty aren't allowed in here, you know." At this, the beastkin scratched the back of her head, smiling sheepishly.

"Err... I, um, smelled something good, and..." Ragna blinked, realizing he was probably the reason the person in front of him almost received a fiery concussion. "Well, I was trying to avoid conflict?" She grinned, as if she had made a bad joke.

"Really... You gonna eat that? I'd like it if the shit wasn't frozen over by the time someone ate it." Makoto was surprised that he brought it up. "You a vegetarian or something?" _  
_

"N-no! I just thought it was for someone else!" She jumped in her chair flustered- which was actually really cute, the president noted- and grabbed a fork.

"Oh yeah? I was going to give this _fresh cooked steak_ to the other person in this room, obviously." Ragna remarked sarcastically. Makoto's cheeks were suddenly tinged crimson in embarrassment.

"Hey!" The squirrel beastkin seemed to take his comment with extreme offense, for some reason. "What makes you th-" Ragna put his hand in front of her face.

"...Shut up and eat, dammit." The girl was silenced quickly.

* * *

**Class Three, sometime in the afternoon-**

"That is what we'll be doing today. Any questions?" This was the Battle Experience class. Class two was a free period for Ragna, or rather, the "management" period. The new students were going to a teacher orientation, and hell was he going to deal with that. Someone raised her hand.

"Er, you wanted to test our battle abilities, right? Who are we going to fight?" The person asking this was a red haired student, with azure eyes holding a determined look. She had two hair beads holding a line of her hair down. It seemed this was one of the Duodecim's children, and Ragna decided he could stop hanging around in the back.

He stood. "Your opponent is me. I will not attack, not once, but you can all choose any weapon you would like. Ars is allowed, if you are actually capable of using it. The fight ends when you fall to the ground." Ragna's piercing green eyes seemed to spread the message to even those who didn't hear. The teacher spoke.

"Thank you, Ragna. Let's head out to the Open Field." The class stood and the group walked through the endless labyrinth of corridors, eventually walking outside. They reached a sparkling green field, blowing in the wind. A few clouds pass over, shading the area, but for the most part, it was sunny. Most students looked out in awe, the spring breeze (Look, it's spring now. Don't spear me for it) blowing softly in their faces. Ragna walked over to the far end of the field, near a grove of trees, clustered around. Ragna shouted, though it probably sounded quiet from the other side of the field.

"Does anyone want to challenge me first?" A girl stepped forward, with an arrogant look on her face. She was talking to a group of people, who were looking at her quite skeptically.

"I'll accept your challenge. After all, someone with no family doesn't stand a chance against me, a member of a noble family!" She cackled in a mocking gesture. Ragna simply sighed. _Pathetic, isn't it._

"You must be new to the academy if you really think that. Did you not get the memo about who the damned Class President was?" He shrugged. "Oh well, go ahead and try." The girl pulled out an Ars dagger (It's like a regular dagger that is specialized to receive Ars codes), chanting a code that set it sparking. Ragna just stared. "Oh my. That's pretty fucking brutal isn't it?" The girl charged at him.

Ragna stepped to the left, concentrating on the knife. The legs and arms were weak, making the only thing worth caring about the dagger. The girl made a lunge toward him, attempting to spring off the ground with her legs. However, they were unstable, and she only tripped. Ragna palmed his face.

"Seriously? I don't know what I was expecting." His opponent scowled, swinging the dagger at his ankles. The group gasped at the terrible foul play... and how it hit his legs with an iron-like _clang_. He sighed.

"Families aren't everything, brat. Figure out what you'll do before you do it. NEXT!" Most people were against fighting the Class President himself, but the red-haired girl stepped up. He raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What's your name?" Ragna asked this, actually curious of who was going to attack him after he slipped in his Iron Skin magic. Of course, the stuff didn't make one invincible, but it was a delayed strike magic. One had to keep the strike up for 1 second before it would allow something in. He put the barrier down.

"Tsubaki Yayoi, sir! I am honored for a chance to battle you!" Ragna sort of... stared for a moment, quizzically. _Has this girl read too many comic books or something?_ And, Yayoi was a Duodecim family, but he decided not to judge. He noticed that the girl was getting her battle stance ready, so he put his legs into a guard stance, though keeping everything else as is.

Ragna moved closer, realizing that it would take forever for anyone to get across the field. Tsubaki rushed forward in a sprint, pulling a blade out of nowhere and swinging it. Though normally, military students would train with a gun, the physical strength required to use a sword trained the balance and speed of a trainee. Tsubaki swung in a great arc, allowing the blade to fall past if not hitting, while Ragna simply fell back a little. Tsubaki swung again, this time crouching and attempting to attack in a slide. Ragna jumped over her somehow, leaving himself a lot of time to recover. Tsubaki was getting tired quickly, having to swing such a heavy object, and went for a vertical strike. It approached Ragna quickly, who looked like he wasn't going to do anything, before... _catching the blade_. Energy spent, Tsubaki collapsed on the ground.

"I have to admit, that was a very good training fight. Good job." The girl huffed tiredly, but managed a smile, that quickly turned into a vexed frown.

"Training... fight?" The girl mumbled, feeling as if her whole life had just gone down the drain. Ragna grinned.

"Yup!"

* * *

**1 week** **later...**

Ragna's week was being salvaged, slowly but surely. He had somehow manage to get Jin to stop bringing a katana to class- Ragna actually thought that Jin would try to kill him more times than he had-, cafeteria duty was finally established, and toned down the egos of a few people. It was still a bad week, but it seemed slightly better, for once. However, tons of mistakes were being made and they annoyed Ragna to no end. For example, right now he had just walked into the class to see at least 4 people on the ground. There was that arrogant brat who tried to fight him before, and her cronies, as well as that Noel person who looked like his sister. Standing there was Makoto Nanaya, a rather resigned look on her face. Tsubaki Yayoi was attempting to preach to the other students, but the commotion hadn't died down yet.

"I guess nothing productive will happen if I dumbly ask, 'what happened here?', will I?" He walked in. The girl looked at him solemnly, shaking her head. Ragna decided against pestering her, leaving only a few words. "I can't tolerate segregation, dammit. That applies to everyone, even you, Nanaya. Even as the victim, if you attempt to disclude someone, even yourself, it becomes a punishment in the long run. In every sense." He shrugged, leaving. The class was silenced entirely, even Tsubaki, who was about to come up with an amazing, awe-inspiring speech was stock-still.

Makoto, almost seeming to wince, left the room. Tsubaki calling after her, yelled. "What are you doing?" Noel also seemed to become more determined as she rose and followed Tsubaki, who was starting to chase Nanaya down.

...

However, after a while, Tsubaki got tired of looking for Nanaya, and instead decided to talk to Jin.

* * *

At lunch time, Makoto stormed into the cafeteria prep room. Ragna would always be there at lunch, a rather quizzical perk about him(I don't know, okay?). She waited at the doorway while Ragna hit the "blend" button on a blender. There was something being made, but Makoto didn't catch it, due to the 5 other people actually doing a service for the other kids. He stopped it, and poured some into a glass. He made his way to a table, and seeing the squirrel beastkin, he poured yet another glass.

After making his way to the table, he passed the other glass to Makoto, who sipped it. They sat in silence for a minute, before Makoto scowled, slamming her glass on the table, though it went unheard to the other kids, who accidentally set something on fire some time before.

"Alright, why'd you defend me?" She tried to barb her words, but couldn't muster the willpower to do so. They came out sounding weak, almost as if her confidence was replaced by that Noel girl's her room mate. She was surprised when the guy just shrugged.

"I don't know. Impulse, I guess." The answer seemed to infuriate Makoto, who made some sort of struggling sound, as if fighting with herself. "If I could help someone why wouldn't I? If I had a key to stop a nuclear launch, why wouldn't I stop it? It's betrayal to humanity itself."

"But, wouldn't it be better if you didn't have to worry about the launch at all? Wouldn't that make it better?"

"Oh? But someone would be worried, even if it wasn't me." As if to prove his point, Tsubaki and Noel suddenly burst through the door. Makoto spun around in her chair, obviously shocked.

"You? What are you doing here?"

"We... We came looking for you!" Noel said, still panting. She then noticed the Student President at the other end of the table. "I-I'm sorry! Were you doing something important?" She said, panicked. Ragna simply sipped his drink, observing quietly. Makoto was embarrassed, glowing red.

"Y-you know, when you say that, it sounds like you're the "idiot character" in a romantic comedy. Nothing's happening." Makoto let out a sigh, attempting to cover up her blush with tough words.

"I'm sorry for thinking that! E-excuse me!" Tsubaki seemed to become exasperated at this,

"Noel, you're doing it again..." She tapped Noel's shoulder.

"Doing what?"

"Apologizing too much."

"I-I'm sor-" She was cut off.

"You know, this room's getting really crowded. Pay attention to your surroundings, please." Ragna finally said in the chaos.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Everyone just sighed. _This is the first truly enjoyable moment of my week, huh?_ Ragna thought cheerfully.

* * *

**The chapter was... pretty good in my opinion. At least it hasn't declined.**

**Don't spear me for raping the timeline to hell. I was trying to mesh together the NOL Military Academy episode and the AU events, but I failed pretty badly. Command four is an I got from TAMNI's Terra of the Left, who uses a magic that works by saying things like "Skin over Bullets" and his skin gains invulnerability. However, it can only be used on one process at a given time.**

**Vote in the poll on my profile for Ragna's NOL branch. Yes, that means you, mister silent reader. By the way, I made a mistake. It shouldn't be Praetorian Guard, it should be Ars Magi (ground units). Fixed as of 8 hours after release. Praetorian guard simply refers to the "best of the best".**

**Leave a review so that I can replenish my ego, or send some criticism in so I can improve my writing. And please, if something looks weird, point it out. I can't help but sigh when I see something in my writing like, "And Kumo was Encendrel read the mail." And the worst part? Everyone ignores it. 1 more chapters in this arc at the least, 3 at the most.**

**What do you think of the Ragna and Makoto pairing? Nothing is solid yet.**

**Those of you who liked the Spectra character, let me explain the situation, because I'm not sending a PM to all of you.**

**Spectra is a being that was born when a certain timeline's Ragna ripped out Nu-13's Azure Grimoire with his own, causing a malfunction, forging both the Black Beast and Spectra. Spectra is unable to manifest in the world because of her inability to have a unique identity. She observes several timelines through a "window" of sorts. She finds "something" that runs on seithr, meaning ****he lack of seithr in the air prevents her from entering the Academy, **and that's as far I can go.

**Yeah, that is a pretty long Author's note. Oh well.**

**Encendrel.**


End file.
